Travel

Sweden

Perhaps Sweden's greatest export is its culture and its modernity. Swedish design, music, art and literature are admired the world over. Naturally speaking, from the cascading northern lights that illuminate the sky above the wilds of Swedish Lapland, to the white sandy beaches of the south - Sweden is all yours to enjoy.

Officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the Öresund Bridge in the south. Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union in terms of area, and it has a total population of over 9.2 million. Sweden is surrounded by Norway (west), Finland (northeast), the Skagerrak, Kattegat and Öresund straits (southwest) and the Baltic Sea (east). It has maritime borders with Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Russia, Lithuania and Latvia, and it is also linked to Denmark (southwest) by the Öresund Bridge. Sweden has 25 provinces or landskap (landscapes), based on culture, geography and history; while these provinces serve no political or administrative purpose, they play an important role for people's self-identification.

Approximately 15% of Sweden lies north of the Arctic Circle. However, despite its northern latitute, most of Sweden has a temperate climate. Temperatures vary greatly from north to south. Southern and central parts of the country have warm summers and cold winters, with average high temperatures of 20 to 25°C and lows of 12 to 15°C in the summer, and average temperatures of -4 to 2°C in the winter, while the northern part of the country has shorter, cooler summers and longer, colder and snowier winters, with temperatures that often drop below freezing from September through May. Because of its high northern latitude, the length of daylight varies greatly. The capital of Stockholm's daylight lasts for more than 18 hours in late June, but only around 6 hours in late December.